310 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
310 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Buying a Second Hand Laptop</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Linux on the Road"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="UP"
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TITLE="Which Laptop to Buy?"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1-which-laptop-to-buy.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="Writing a Device Driver"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s7-writing-a-device-driver.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="No Hardware Recommendations"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s9-no-hardware-recommendations.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="sect1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVHEADER"
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><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>Linux on the Road: </TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s7-writing-a-device-driver.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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>Chapter 1. Which Laptop to Buy?</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s9-no-hardware-recommendations.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect1"
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><H1
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CLASS="sect1"
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><A
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NAME="mobile-guide-p1c1s8-buying-a-second-hand-laptop"
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></A
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>1.8. Buying a Second Hand Laptop</H1
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><P
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> Some recommendations to check a used laptop, before buying it:
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</P
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><P
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>
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<P
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></P
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><OL
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TYPE="1"
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><LI
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><P
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> Review the surface of the case for visible damages.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Check the display for pixel faults. Maybe it's useful to take a
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magnifying glass therefore. By the way: There is a standard for pixel
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faults etc. ISO 13406-2.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Do an IO stress-test, .e.g. with the tool <B
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CLASS="command"
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>bonnie</B
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>.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> You may use <B
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CLASS="command"
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>memtest</B
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> and <B
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CLASS="command"
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>crashme</B
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> to
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achieve a memory test.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Do a CPU stress test, e.g. with the command <B
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CLASS="command"
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>md5sum /dev/urandom</B
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> or by
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compiling a kernel.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Check the floppy drive by formatting a floppy.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Check the CD/DVD drive by reading and writing a CD/DVD.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> To check the battery seems difficult, because it needs some time: one
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charge and one work cycle. You may use <B
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CLASS="command"
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>battery-stats</B
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>
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to do so, but note this tool only offer APM support, it
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is not available with ACPI support yet.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> To check the surface of the harddisk you may take
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<B
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CLASS="command"
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>e2fsck</B
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>. There is also a Linux tool
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<B
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CLASS="command"
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>dosfsck</B
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> or the other <B
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CLASS="command"
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>fsck</B
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> tools.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> To test the entire disk (non-destructively), time it for performance,
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and determine its size, as root do:
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<B
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CLASS="command"
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>time dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/null bs=1024k</B
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> .
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> Check whether the machine seems to be stolen. I have provided a
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/stolen_laptops.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>survey of databases for stolen laptops</A
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>.
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</P
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></LI
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></OL
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>
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</P
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><P
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> AFAIK there is no Linux tool like the DOS tools CHECK-IT,
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DR. HARD, SYSDIAG and others. These tools include many of the
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tests in one integrated suite. One of the best in my humble
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opinion is the tool
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<A
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HREF="http://members.datafast.net.au/~dft0802/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>PC Diagnostics 95</A
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>
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made by Craig Hart. Despite the 95 in its name it's plain DOS, tiny (
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76KB program and 199KB data) reliable and free. Unfortunately it
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contains no check for the <SPAN
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CLASS="trademark"
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>IrDA</SPAN
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>® port.
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</P
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><P
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> Please note this quotation from the disclaimer: "This program is written
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with the target audience being a trained, experienced technician. It is
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NOT designed to be used by those ignorant of computer servicing.
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Displays are not <EM
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>pretty</EM
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> but functional. Information
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is not explained since we are not trying to educate. This software
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should be considered to be just like any other tool in a tech's toolbox.
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It is to be applied with care, in the right situation, in order to find
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answers to specific problems. If you are an end user who is less than
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confident of dealing with computer hardware, this is probably not a
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program for you."
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</P
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><P
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> Laptop computers, unlike desktop machines, really do get used up.
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<EM
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>Lithium batteries</EM
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> are good for no more than 400
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recharge cycles, sometimes much fewer. <EM
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>Keyboards</EM
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>
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wear out. <EM
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><SPAN
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CLASS="acronym"
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>LCD</SPAN
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> screen
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backlighting</EM
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> grows dim. <EM
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>Mouse buttons</EM
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>
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fail. Worst of all, <EM
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>connectors</EM
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> get loose as a
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result of vibration, causing intermittent failures (e.g. only when you
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hit the <Enter> key). We have heard of a machine used on the table
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in a train being shaken to unusability in one trip.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s7-writing-a-device-driver.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
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ACCESSKEY="H"
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>Home</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1s9-no-hardware-recommendations.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
|
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
|
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>Writing a Device Driver</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p1c1-which-laptop-to-buy.html"
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ACCESSKEY="U"
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>Up</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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>No Hardware Recommendations</TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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></DIV
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></BODY
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></HTML
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> |